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Shaping Sunlight

The Shoot

Fashion photographer Frederico Martins was asked to do a cover story for Elle about a solitary girl wandering around the island of Fuerteventura. Knowing that he would be out in the sun on location, Frederico brought a number of different reflectors. “Working with reflectors is a more natural approach,” he says. “You get a natural look and feel with very little effort.”

The Solution

The biggest challenge was the strong winds. But Profoto’s Collapsible Reflectors withstood the challenge. “Profoto’s Collapsible Reflectors have handles and are sturdier and more rigid than other reflectors I’ve worked with,” says Frederico.

Profoto’s Collapsible Reflectors are available with six different textures. This is how Frederico used them: “The white side reflects the light in a very natural way so I mostly used it for lighting up and controlling the shadows,” he says. “The silver side was used when I wanted a strong, slightly underexposed image with, let’s say, darker skin tones and a deep blue sky. In these cases, I placed the reflector quite far from the model so that I got a low powered yet shiny light that brought life to the darker areas. “The translucent reflector was used as a diffuser. I put it over the model with the sunlight shining through, which gives you this nice, fresh and soft light. “I didn’t use the black or the gold side on Fuerteventura. But the former is obviously used to flag off light, and I’ve previously used the gold side when shooting black & white. It gives you this really nice, almost bronzy kind of feel. “My personal favorite, however, is the SunSilver side. It’s not as cold as the silver reflector and it is not as obvious as the gold side. It’s right in between and I think it’s just perfect.”